LA's water system is a marvel of engineering, but parts of it are almost 100 years old. Is that why there's been an epidemic of broken water mains? Does the DWP need another rate hike to fix the problem? Also, the recession and unemployment in California. On our Rebroadcast of today's To the Point, it's been a year now since Lehman Brothers was allowed to go bankrupt, and the financial meltdown really got under way. Since Barack Obama took over, has there been more continuity than change?

FROM THIS EPISODE

Two more water mains broke last night. LA Times columnist Steve Lopez says, "It's like geyser park out there." As the City Council considers layoffs and furloughs, the Department of Water and Power wants another rate hike. We hear from defenders and critics. Also, the recession and unemployment in California. On our Rebroadcast of today's To the Point, it's been a year now since Lehman Brothers was allowed to go bankrupt, and the financial meltdown really got under way. Since Barack Obama took over, has there been more continuity than change? Could it happen all over again?

Banner image: Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa talks to reporters near a 22-ton Los Angeles Fire Department fire truck protruding from a sinkhole on September 8, 2009 in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

Henry Paulson had been the CEO of Goldman Sachs, a Republican and a free marketeer. But as George W. Bush's reluctant Treasury Secretary, he engineered the biggest government intervention of modern times. During 15 months of the financial meltdown and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, he sat for eight hours of taped interviews with Todd Purdom, whose "Confessions of Henry Paulson" are in this month's issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

Ben Bernanke says the recession is finally over, at least from what he calls "a technical perspective." The UCLA Anderson quarterly forecast says a turnaround has begun in Southern California, even though the state's unemployment rate will rise to more than 12% by the end of this year. Mark Lacter writes about business for the website LA Observed.

Two more water mains burst last night in the San Fernando Valley, just days after a fire engine was almost swallowed in a North Hollywood sink hole and a gusher broke through the pavement in Studio City. The Department of Water and Power says there've been dozens of "major blowouts" in the last three months, flooding streets and damaging buildings as well as vehicles.